Unconventional gas production, such as that from the Barnett Shale in Texas, could account for more than fifty percent of America's gas supply twenty years from now. These exciting new energies have emerged as a direct result from technological developments in the drilling industry.
New and prosperous energies are cropping up as scientists constantly search for ways to improve existing methods of drilling for oil. New resources like gases, minerals, and by-products of oil are discovered beneath the earth's surface frequently. To harness these resources and improve methods of drilling for oil is as financially sound as it is practical.
Long into the future oil will continue to provide the human race with energy. Oil and petroleum products have powered the world in the form of motor fuels for more than a century, and the demand is only growing. Analysts believe energy demand will only double in decades to come and at present the world is looking to oil and gas to meet these demands.
We use oil everyday in ways that do not initially spring to mind. Oil is also a key ingredient in making thousands of commercial products that make our lives comfortable and easier. For example, petroleum is found in Vaseline and hundreds of moisturizers. Oil refineries use chemical processing that turn crude oil into mixtures that produce products such as plastics, synthetic rubber, synthetic fiber, drugs, and detergents. These products help us make materials more flexible and productive, make the clothes we wear everyday more comfortable and create drugs that help us fight disease and life threatening illnesses.
Three Major Types of Petroleum Based Products:
Naphtha is one example of a petroleum based product, it is a form of feedstock most people are not familiar with. Then there are non-fuel related products such as lubricating oils or solvents. Last but not least are the fuel, like diesel and gasoline.
It is quite obvious that oil and all of its by-products are not only extremely versatile, but extremely necessary as well. Our society, whether we like it or not, is highly dependent on this resource. Transportation is a huge factor, and it is not just in our vehicles. The airline industry is one of the biggest oil consumers on the planet and we have yet to discover a viable alternative. The industrial sector comes in second, and the remaining consumption can be attributed to commercial and home use.
To date, humans have extracted or produced more than 1 trillion barrels of oil. The demand is growing and set to double in the coming decades, which means that in less than a quarter of the time it has taken us to use that much, we will be doubling our oil exploration and extraction. The biggest resources for this future demand are most likely both unconventional resources as well as yet to be discovered conventional oil reserves. It is vital that our processes for exploration, extraction, and production are streamlined and perfected, and scientists and the industry as a whole is working against time to ensure that is so as our heavy demands increase. Resource management and exploration is more important now that at any other time in our history.